In August/September 1995, I undertook my 3rd season of field research
in Egypt and Nubia. I conducted primary (first-hand) research
at 15 sites in 1994 and 27 sites in 1995. As I indicated in part
I of this series, my work of documenting modern forgeries and studying
ancient African social organization and spiritual culture was superseded
by the overwhelming problem of the rapid decay and deliberate destruction
of many temple and tomb carvings.

The vanishing evidence of classical African civilizations is
more apparent from the temple evidence than from the tombs because the
temple “conservation” work is obvious from the scaffolding, which is visible
from different locations within a temple. Not only does the scaffolding
draw attention but the workmen’s equipment and the broken up pieces of
temple wall surface lying on the ground are also easily noticed.
Whereas, when a tomb is under “conservation,” the structure is usually
closed to the public until the repair work and secret behind-the-scene
alterations are complete.

The altering of Black (African) facial features and the lightening of
the skin colors of painted reliefs inside the tombs are central aspects
of the conspiracy to destroy the memory of classical African civilizations.
The two main conspirator groups carrying out these acts are European and
American research teams, and local government workers. Throughout
Egypt and Nubia, the tomb images have suffered different levels of decay
and destruction. In places such as Giza the tombs are closed as there
is little left to see; in Tell Amarna the tomb carvings are in an advanced
state of decay; in El Kab and Aswan many of the images have been systematically
defaced; and in Beni Hassan only 4 of the 39 tombs are open because the
rest are badly damaged. The only major location which has escaped
serious tomb damage is Sakkara, but this may not remain true in the future
because the conspirators’ work is not complete, until they have destroyed
or defaced all the evidence of classical African civilizations.

Modern conspirators have thoroughly erased the facial
characteristics of these Black images.

“EATING MUMMY”

In the tombs, not only have the faces of many wall images been altered
or destroyed, but the crimes against African mummies are almost beyond
description. There is a tradition dating back to at least 1000 A.D.
in which Arabs and later Europeans engaged in the practice of “eating mummy.”
This practice has been written about by a number of authors, and it was
widespread in modern Egypt and Western Europe. It consisted of countless
ancient African mummies being burned, ground up, and made into a kind of
powder in order to be eaten. This incredible act of cannibalism was
considered an effective medical practice and folk remedy. The belief
became widely prevalent that cures could be obtained by eating ground-up
preserved bodies. “Eating mummy” was considered effective in treating contusions,
coughs, epilepsy, migraines, ulcers, cases of poison, and as a general
panacea.

Mummies or fragments of mummies were taken from their tombs and sent
to Cairo and Alexandria, where merchants sent the ground-up parts all over
Western Europe. In the European Middle Ages and Renaissance mummy
trafficking was widespread. Egyptian mummies were so sought after
that the chaplain to Queen Catherine de Medici of France made a special
trip to Egypt in 1549 and, together with some physicians from Italy, broke
into a number of tombs around Sakkara in a quest for mummies to use in
various medicines. Catherine’s father-in-law, King Francis I of France,
also carried ground-up mummy in a pouch around his waist at all times in
case of an emergency.

The mummy madness was such that if a genuine ancient Egyptian mummy
was not available, local Arabs would use the corpses of executed criminals
or those who had died from disease. They used these modern substitutes
to meet the high demand for mummy powder, despite the protest against this
barbaric practice by some physicians, among them the French surgeon Ambroise
Paré, who stated, “It causes great pain in their stomachs, gives
them evil smelling breath and brings about serious vomiting.”

“Eating Mummy” had a long and respectable tradition as a medicinal remedy.
This uncivilized European and Arab tradition of eating mummified human
flesh was part of a flourishing trade and thus did not die out until the
19th century! It is impossible to calculate the many thousands of
African mummies that ended up in the stomachs of Europeans and Arabs.

MODERN VIOLATIONS

The violation of African mummies has continued without hesitation in
the form of local Arab citizens and tomb “guardians” who hide mummies in
a secluded location until they can find an adventurist tourist who willing
to pay and be taken to see a mummy or skeletal remains. I have seen
extreme violations being carried out by Arabs at various tomb sites.
In one of the Khokka tombs on the West Bank of Waset (Luxor), I witnessed
two Arabs go in a tomb and take out the mummified parts of an 18th dynasty
African official. They took him out of his burial place and savagely
began assembling the various parts: the lower legs, the upper legs, the
torso, the head, and finally they took out the mummy’s heart and asked
me if I wanted to photograph it before they placed it inside of the chest
area. All of this was done for “baksheesh” (tip) with no regard
for the African ancestor.

In many other cases, human bones have been scattered throughout the
tomb, as well as broken into small pieces and thrown about in the cemetery
as the robbers are making off with the loot. The Arab villagers continue
to loot ancient tombs and sell the African artifacts in the illicit underground
antiquities market.

The destruction of African mummies has led to a gross distortion of
the historical facts. For example, Dr. Wilfred Griggs and his colleagues
of Brigham Young University (BYU) are in possession of an unparalleled
thousands of human DNA samples, many of them from the ancient Egyptians.
Dr. Griggs recently gave a presentation
in San Jose, California in which he discussed the joint BYU and Rosicrucian
Museum mummy project. Griggs stated that the DNA tests that were
run on the Rosicrucian mummies indicated that of the 4 tested “not one
of the four showed the African [genetic] marker. Now that doesn’t surprise
me,” he added, “because...there [were] many different races” in Egypt.
Griggs never gave any context for his remarks, as he did not mention the
time period when each of these mummies lived. Nor did he mention the geographical
location where they lived within ancient Egypt, or where their burials
were found. In fact, Griggs’ motives are extremely questionable,
because there was no balance in his statements. For example, Griggs did
not indicate if the DNA results showed either a “European” or “Asian” genetic
marker. He only made sure to state that the “African” marker was
not found.

The facial damage to these four figures in a Valley of the Kings tomb
is a typical pattern in the concerted effort to destroy Black images.

VALLEY OF THE KINGS

The main tomb work of the modern European and Arab conspirators has
been on the West Bank of Waset (Luxor), and in particular the Valley of
the Kings, because this is the most popular tourist location within Egypt
where people go to see the ancient African tombs. The Valley of the
Kings is well-known to travelers and Egyptologists as the principle burial
ground of the pharaohs of dynasties 18-20, and it is one of the most significant
archaeological sites in the world. The Kings Valley was intended
as a quiet and secure resting place for African kings, but the artifacts
in the area have suffered greatly at the hands of plunderers, treasure
hunters, antiquity dealers, Egyptologists, archeologists, and tourists.
Of the 62 tombs in the Kings Valley, there is usually only about 9 tombs
open [as of 1995]. The rest of the tombs are closed for “conservation.”

Since many of these Kings Valley tombs were rediscovered in the 19th
and early part of the 20th century, they have fallen into disrepair.
Many of them have permanently suffered from the steady pressure of thousands
of tourists each day, local Arab tomb-robbing villages such as Qurna, and
from the destructive acts of archeologists and Egyptologists, who are more
concerned with gaining recognition in academic circles than with the welfare
of the tombs. The result of all this activity has been the
African mummies being violated and destroyed, burial goods being sold or
shipped off to museums, paints chipping off the tomb walls, and the accumulation
of salt crystals which have put the brilliantly colored reliefs in a very
fragile state.

BUILDING REPLICA TOMBS

The problem of deterioration of the Kings Valley (KV) tombs has led
to a growing international movement to build replica tombs and close the
original structures. The tomb replication project will likely be implemented
in the future. Under this plan, the popular tombs which have suffered
irreparable damage, such as the tomb of Tutankhamen, will be permanently
closed to the public. Once they are closed, the only persons who
will have access to the original KV tombs will be Egyptian government officials
and workers, and “qualified” researchers.

The completion of this tomb replication project will be a major step
in further erasing the memory of a Black Egypt. These replica
tombs, with the lightened colors and remade facial features, will graphically
demonstrate that the evidence of classical African civilizations is vanishing.

The tomb publications by Western scholars are currently a main source
of information on tomb decorations and details, and when some of the KV
tombs are permanently closed these often inaccurate and unreliable
publications will unfortunately be the exclusive source of our information.

See part I of this series for recommendations on how you can help stop
the
vanishing evidence of classical African civilizations.

Prof. Manu Ampim is a historian and primary researcher on African
and African American culture & history. He is director of Advancing
The Research and can be reached at PO Box 18623, Oakland, CA 94619,
or E-Mail: Profmanu@acninc.net. Telephone: (510) 482-5791 or 1-877-794-0700 x 3780